Untitled
by Indiegirl97
Summary: How Kakashi and Sakura realise what's underneath the underneath isn't always that hard to find. KakaSaku. Post-war. Pre-Gaiden.
1. Sudden Visitors

Again. For the third time in a week Sakura Haruno woke up to a muted thud coming from her living room. She groaned and got out of bed with a scowl. _For God's sake, it's 3 AM! Can't they just go to the damn hospital?_ A week of working four graveyard shifts at the hospital, training with the boys and a general lack of sleep, she was left with next to no energy left for any serious healing, but being the never-off-duty-medic she was, she just couldn't turn them away. "Them" being the endless flurry of ninja coming back from missions covered in wounds, mainly caused due to macho nonsense and general stupidity and then refusing to go to the hospital.

No, she couldn't turn them away, especially not now, not after registering the chakra signature coming from the living room to be His. All sluggishness forgotten, she hurried into her dressing gown and into the living room, knowing instinctively that something was wrong. Instinctively? More like due to common sense, seeing as he never visited her anymore. And reaching the slumped figure, she knew she was right. He was sitting with his head down right by the only window in the room. _Go Figure,_ she thought, he never used the door to enter her apartment.

Used. Past tense.

She rarely saw him these days, only seeing him on missions where he was focused solely on the objective or when he passed by her on the street, barely acknowledging her presence and she'd taken the hint a while back and had stopped seeking him out. Hint? Now that was a gross understatement. Genius or not, he wasn't exactly subtle about trying to avoid her.

Realising that she was standing right in front of him, the figure looked up at her and she froze.

"Kakashi.."

He was covered in blood. _Was it his?_ She sure hoped it wasn't...there was so much of it, no wonder he wasn't standing. He should've gone straight to the hospital, the idiot. Noticing her expression, he offered her a small wave and a happy eye crease, that normally indicated a smile, but Sakura knew better. She could read his expression with his sole visible eye almost as clearly as an open book. Almost.

He was in pain and was trying to reassure her. This snapped her out of her reverie and she helped him up, ignoring his weak protests saying he didn't need it.

Weak. Not a word she generally associated with her ex-sensei.

She helped him to the small couch and took in his injuries. The thought "there goes my upholstery" was roughly yanked out of her head as she took in his injuries. His flak jacket was missing, the shirt he normally wore underneath was cut in many places, and was soaked in blood. His hitai-ate was missing as well, forcing him to keep his left eye scrunched closed, and she could see the crusted blood under the lid. He'd obviously over-used his Sharingan again. His spiky silver mane was caked in mud and blood.

Overall, his injuries looked bad, but not severe enough to knock him out and force him into the hospital.

She quickly fetched her supplies and lots of water, and bent over him, starting with the worst wound first, a deep cut on his side. _Damn, it looks like someone tried, and very nearly succeeded trying to cut him in half,_ she thought. After cutting off parts of the shirt around the wound, or what was left of the shirt anyway, she started cleaning the wounds and healing him with a glowing palm, moving on to the various lacerations, breaks, the cracked ribs and the oh-so-many bruises. It turned out that the blood was not all his after all, to Sakura's relief.

Not one word was exchanged during the whole process. What could she even say to him? She'd said a lot the last time they'd spoken properly, and hadn't gotten a reply. That was months ago. Four months, to be exact. They hadn't spoken much after that, and only in the presence of company.

And she'd been miserable since then.

"There," she said after about an hour, "that should do for now. I'll get the futon, don't move. You're staying the night. Don't bother arguing, I've given you some painkillers, so you'll probably be out of it till noon anyway. I'll inform Shishou that you're here when I go in tomorrow." Avoiding his gaze, she went into laundry room and dragged out the futon and brought it to the living room, helped him onto it, and went back to her room, shutting the door behind her.

If she heard his whispered apology, she ignored it.

Needless to say, Sakura didn't get much sleep that night. Again.

* * *

 ** _A/N_**

 **Cue: Inexperienced rant.**

 **1\. Oops. My Debbie Downer is showing. Too short, I know.**

 **2\. Hey all, (by all I mean the very few people who might, if I'm lucky, read the story) this is my first fanfic, so I hope you go a little easy on me.**

 **3\. The story is not all angst and hidden sighs btw, this just hit me at 3 am last night (this morning?). Anyway, I hope I won't drag it out too much.**

 **4\. I'm looking for a beta reader. So if anybody out there is bored and not too impatient, please give me a shout.**

 **5\. I'll be doing the next chapter from Kakashi's pov, so I'm kinda excited.**

 **6\. Review please! Pretty please?**

 **7\. And no, I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to go with this.**

 ***Happy eye crease* ^_^**


	2. An Unwelcome Invitation

Kakashi woke up in a very familiar room which was most definitely not his. Blinking away his confusion, he immediately recalled the previous night. He was at Sakura's, she'd healed his wounds last night. _Perhaps I should've just gone to the hospital_ , he thought, remembering how tired she'd looked and immediately stilled. That was new, he'd never considered going there willingly before.

He winced as he sat up on the lumpy futon he'd been sleeping on, his hands immediately going to his side, where that angry bastard had hacked at him with what he could've sworn was an axe. He got up and took a few shaky steps towards the bathroom, he could see her bedroom from there and wasn't surprised to see that she was out, knowing how busy was, working as hard as she did. _Too hard_ , he thought, remembering how haggard her appearance had been last night, but he knew he couldn't call her out on it, as he was no better. Work was a very welcome distraction for people like them. The door to her bedroom was ajar and he could see her bed, which was unmade and lots of clothes were strewn about on every available surface, messy, in stark contrast with the other areas of the house.

Chuckling, he went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror and immediately regretted it. He looked bad. Bags under his eyes..his hair was dirty, and he was dressed in what could only be called rags. The mission had been relatively easy, but it had taken longer than what he'd thought at first. He was to retrieve a very valuable scroll from a group of bandits. What had started out as an A-rank soon turned out to be an S-rank mission, as all four of the said group had been of at least elite jounin class. He'd recogonized them from the bingo book. Instead of stealing the scroll and falling back right away, he'd sent Pakkun back to Konoha with the scroll, and had taken on all four of them.

He probably should've just left with the scroll.

If he had, he wouldn't have been injured. No..that wasn't it. He was used to being injured. It came with being a shinobi. But in this instance, if he hadn't gotten injured, he wouldn't have had to come here, to her house, he wouldn't have had to meet her, and he wouldn't have had to see how she avoided meeting his eyes and how miserable she'd looked.

 _Kakashi could hear the fireworks in the background. He'd avoided going because, well, he hadn't really wanted to. Hearing a slight knock on the door, he opened it to find a blushing Sakura standing in front of him, wearing a very flattering yukata of different shades of green. She looked beautiful, and could smell the sake on her. Before he could say anything, she grabbed his face, pulled him down and kissed him. Once, twice and she stopped. "I think..I think I'm falling for you, Kakashi." she said in a low voice. She waited for a while and looking up at his face, she couldn't read his expression. He hadn't responded. She looked down with a horrified expression and after sputtering out an apology, she fled._

He knew how hurt she was by what had happened, his lack of response more than the actual rejection and he also knew what she thought, that he couldn't be bothered to answer. _If only she knew_.. He hated having to be the responsible one there. She'd said exactly what he'd been fantasizing about for so long. But it was wrong. He just couldn't do it. He was her ex-sensei. She was only twenty years, and deserved to be with someone her age, not someone fourteen years her senior.

But he couldn't help but feel like he had built her hopes up. Hadn't he asked her to stop calling him sensei? He had finally let Team 7 get past the defenses he'd built around himself. Okay, maybe he hadn't let them, they'd barged in without taking their shoes off. And he hadn't found them unwelcome. But she'd gotten so much closer to him than the rest of them, to the point that he actually missed her when they were separated due to missions and Kakashi had never missed anybody like this. She'd grown on him like a weed and he'd started to rely on her. He'd even given her her own copy of his house key for crying out loud! And he knew she felt the same way.

 _Misery loves company_ , he thought. She was almost as lonely as he was, all her friends were moving on, getting into relationships, getting married..That was the thing about being a Shinobi. They either did these things young, or not at all. Having no certainty about how long they'd live, and growing up too quickly, they tended to have the words "carpe diem" emblazoned in front of their eyes, with few exceptions. Sakura had accepted that she was one of the few a long time ago, when she'd gotten over Sasuke and hadn't felt the need to go boy hunting after that and was genuinely happy for her friends. She was content with having the old and jaded shinobi that Kakashi was as one of her closest friends, much to his surprise. She knew more about him than almost anyone else and he was happy..

But that was over now.

Sighing, he quickly stripped and got into the cramped shower. Eyeing the soap and shampoo, he realised that he'll probably be smelling like her for the rest of the day. _Oh well_ , he thought with a shrug, _if Pakkun can, so can I. Besides, it'll wear off soon_. When he was done he found a fresh towel on the towel rack, drying off, he wrapped it around his waist and got out of the bathroom.

He found Sakura busy in the kitchen, cooking lunch. Looking up at him, she grabbed a cloth bag from the table in the small dining area and wordlessly handed it to Kakashi. His mask hid his surprise well as he discovered a few laundered and neatly folded clothes inside which he knew were his.

I can't believe she kept them.. He'd half expected her to throw them after he'd stopped talking to her but apparently he was wrong.

"I guess I'll get dressed then," said Kakashi, turning towards the laundry room beside the bathroom.

"Wait," Sakura said turning off the stove and wiping her hands, "I have to check on your injuries again to make sure I didn't miss anything last night, since I barely had any chakra left."

Kakashi would've felt guilty if he wasn't preoccupied with thinking that he would've preferred it if she'd spoken angrily or coldly, but he could barely stay composed listening to her detached and clinical tone, as though he was just another patient. A stranger.

All he wanted at that moment was to go out and get smashed, maybe I should take Genma along, he thought.

"Done," Sakura said after a while, interrupting his thoughts. "Your ribs might take a few days to stop feeling sore and you need lots of rest. You chakra reserves are obviously depleted, I thought you'd be asleep for longer," she said with a slight frown. "Anyway, I met with Lady Tsunade in the morning, she was a little peeved that you didn't go to the hospital, but said she's glad you at least had the sense to come here. She said you're to stay here till tomorrow. You can hand in your mission report the day after, I got you a form from the jounin headquarters, it's on my work table, you can start working on it after lunch. She said if you hand it in late, she'll make it mandatory for you to go straight to the hospital after every mission."

Saying this she got up and set a plate on the table along with the food beckoned to him to sit down. He willingly obliged, suddenly realising how hungry he was feeling. After quickly getting dressed, he put some food on his plate and looked up. Seeing her sit in front of him with papers in front of her instead of a plate, he asked, "Aren't you eating, Sakura?"

"No," she said after a moment. "I'll eat later, I've got some paperwork to do."

He frowned at this. "How come you're not at work today? Aren't you usually at the hospital at this time?" Kakashi asked her, having already finished his meal. "No, I'll wash the plate, you cooked, it's only fair."

Sakura vaguely nodded and replied, "Yes, I usually am, though I've been on night duty for the past few days. Lady Tsunade forced a week's leave on me. I'm not to go anywhere near the Hokage tower either." Sighing, she continued, in response to his puzzled expression, "she got mad after she found out that I had some trouble getting home after working a triple shift for the second day in a row. Anyway, when did you leave for the mission?"

"About a month back. It was quite simple, just the skill level of the group I was to take care was correctly given in the mission scroll. Anyway, it's good to be back.," he deadpanned, not happy about what she'd just said. He knew she'd taken to using soldier pills to keep up with the extra shifts she took at the hospital.

"Oh, well that's nice." She said getting up. "I have a little work to do, will be back in a while. Help yourself to anything you'd like. The television works, just don't accidentally touch the plug."

Saying this, she headed for the door and was knocked back with a loud "Sakura-chaaaaaan!"

"Naruto. There's this new thing you should try, it's called called knocking. I hear it's real fun." Sakura said, her expression softening as she saw Naruto entering her living room with Sai trailing behind. "Kakashi-sensei! when did you get back? And what're you doing here? I thought you and Sakura-chan had some sorta fight?!"

Sakura's face hardened a little, and she pointedly avoided looking at Kakashi. "Where did you get that idea, Naruto? Kakashi..sensei and I are not fighting at all." She said throwing a look at him.

"Yo." Kakashi said. He noticed the "sensei" she tacked on at the end of his name but didn't comment on it.

"Sakura, Dickless and I came here to ask you whether you wanted to join us for training session." Sai said, eyes flicking between Sakura and Kakashi's faces, he rarely missed anything. "Of course, now that Kakashi-senpai's here, we would like to invite him as well."

"Yeah! Come on Kaka-sensei! It would be fun!" Naruto agreed, "We never hang-out together anymore! Either you're busy or Sakura-chan is."

"He's still recuperating, Naruto," Sakura quickly cut in, "He just came back after a month-long mission. I'd love to join you, though." She added, seeing the sullen pout that was forming on his mouth.

"Sakura is right Naruto, I probably shouldn't be training, but I can always come to watch. If you'd like me there, that is." Kakashi said, giving him a happy eye crease.

Naruto whooped and pumped his fist in the air, running out of the apartment with a "You don't have to even ask Sensei! C'mon slow pokes!" Sai and Kakashi followed him, with Sakura trailing behind, no emotion showing on her face, but it was obvious on her face that this was a very unwelcome invitation.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **1\. Hola! Thank you for your reviews! I got more response for the first chapter than I was expecting.**

 **2\. I didn't particularly like this chapter, it was quite different in my head, _oh well._**

 **3\. The first two chapters took place mostly in their heads, I'll probably be changing that in the next few chapters.**

 **4\. I have absolutely nothing witty to say right now, it's past 3 am again, and I've been up for twenty hours, so I'll be making a "helping an old lady cross the road" excuse now.**

 **^_^ See ya next chapter!**


	3. The One with Training, Tea and Advice

**Hello lovely readers! Sorry for the delay. Don't be mad, for I have come with offerings and updates. See you at the bottom.**

* * *

After barely defeating Sai in a sparring match, Sakura was lounging lazily on the ground soaking up the sun. She had barely gotten any sun in the past few months and was enjoying the warmth that was spreading through her bones, watching Naruto and Sai go at it with no intention other than to show the up as Yamato droned on about the quality of different kinds of wood. The usually stoic Mokuton user had gotten friendlier with the rest of team Kakashi after the war, and was especially verbose at the moment, as he was busy describing to Sakura his new collection of whittling knives. Apparently he'd not even noticed when the person he'd first started talking to about it had silently left with a certain orange book open under his nose.

Chuckling, Sakura turned her face upwards and closed her eyes. Feeling somebody's eyes on her, she looked at the tree on which the copy-nin was lounging on with his beloved Icha Icha and her smile faded when she realised he was looking intently at her. She got the disturbing feeling that he could look into her thoughts. Realising that he'd seen her looking, she turned away and tried to watch the match going on in front of her.

Sakura was often in awe of Naruto's ability to move on from all the horrible things life had thrown at him. Yes, she was in awe.

Awed and envious.

Why couldn't she do the same? Every time she so much as looked at the damn masked shinobi, she felt like she was going to fall face first onto the ground and further her humiliation. Every. Single. Time.

Yamato was still talking. Naruto and Sai were still sparring. The day was still bright and sunny. Yet she suddenly felt very suffocated and claustrophobic even out in the open field.

Sakura got up and with a mumbled excuse, fled the place.

She didn't notice Yamato frowning at her or the way Kakashi's narrowed eyes followed her as her pink head went out of sight.

* * *

Ever since first joining the academy, Sakura had felt that she no longer belonged in the civilian world. And sitting in the backyard of her family house with her mother and grandparents, with said grandmother looking disapprovingly at her clothes which yelled "I'M A KUNOICHI" and the rhombus-shaped seal on her forehead while having tea, Sakura couldn't have felt more out of place if she'd tried. And as soon as the words "Our neighbours' daughter is getting married at the fine age of 18. Don't you agree dear, that girls should be married off before twenty?" left her grandmother's mouth, Sakura regretted coming to visit her mother while her grandparents were visiting.

While her mother had more or less accepted that her daughter would never "convert" back to being a civilian and hence, normalcy after her husband's demise, 'more or less' being the operative term here as she was too busy running the family business along with her brothers-in-law to care anymore, too busy being the rich, high society lady from the wealthy Haruno clan. Whereas her father's very ancient mother still hadn't given up the fight. Every time she met Sakura, she would nag and nag and nag till eventually, Sakura would retaliate and her grandmother would look at her daughter-in-law with an expression that very clearly said "look at what a barbarian the girl has become, you were a fool to let her join that academy. I told you so.". The older woman was very irritated with the fact that the pinkette hadn't even started looking for a husband yet and wasn't very silent about her displeasure at everything her granddaughter did.

She recalled the unfortunate incident when her grandmother had met her team. The fact that her team included the great Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake did nothing to soften her towards her chosen career. Hell, the woman didn't even care about her own granddaughter's achievements, let alone her whole team's. And while Sai had remained mostly silent during the whole unpleasant meeting, he had said some things that the older woman may not have considered very appropriate.

Needless to say, her grandmother had made her displeasure known to everyone present. The only one who had managed to keep the situation in hand was Sakura's uncle. He, along with Sakura's father, were the only ones who'd truly accepted her as she was.

 _I shouldn't have come here,_ Sakura thought to herself for the tenth time since she arrived, _but now that I'm here, I'm not going to give this old crone the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me_. Resisting the urge to hurl the little table across the lawn, Sakura put on a sickeningly sweet smile and got the pleasure of seeing her grandmother frown and stop in the middle of describing the engagement party.

"More tea, grandmother?"

* * *

It was quite late at night when Sakura managed to finally get out of her mother's house. Each minute there only reminded her more of her father. Before his death, Kizashi Haruno was the only one in the Haruno family that Sakura could be herself with. The pink haired man had supported her decision to become a ninja despite the very vocal protests from his family, had understood when Sakura moved out of her parents' house a year after being promoted to chunin rank and had been there to protect her from his mother's constant censure. She knew he would've been very proud of her for becoming a jounin.

His death had hit Sakura very hard and she rarely visited her mother these days.

Leaving the house, she decided to take a little walk around the village, hoping to lighten her dark mood at least a little.

So it wasn't that surprising that she ended up at a bar a few minutes later.

Considering the fact that she was on first-name basis with the bar tender of her favourite bar, who insisted that he was perhaps one of the only people in Konoha who didn't want his friends to visit him. It probably had something to do with all the alcohol.

So instead of the "Shinobi lounge", she ended up in a civilian bar, who'd obviously had first hand experience and less than pleasant memories with drunk ninja as a collective, kept giving her what he obviously considered to be surreptitious looks. The same kind of look one might give a ticking time bomb.

Being in no mood to deal with anymore judgmental civilians that day, she quickly downed one drink after another till she was, in her opinion, sufficiently plastered to stop thinking too much.

Something she usually considered an exercise in futility usually. As she wasn't a very happy drunk.

Paying a very relieved man behind the counter, she hopped off the high barstool and stepped out of the crowded and slightly grimy building.

The streets of Konoha were empty as Sakura slowly made her way to the academy. A few years of practise had granted her the ability to walk without swaying and talk with the slightest of slurs while drunk. Unless of course, the booze in question was tequila. Lots and lots of tequila.

Reaching the swing she'd often seen Naruto on during their academy days, she slowly lowered herself onto it, swinging back and forth without putting any heart into the activity.

"Aren't you a little big for that swing, ugly?"

Sakura turned to see Sai watching her thoughtfully. "Oh, it's only you Sai, what're you doing here? Haven't been following me around have you?" she said turning back to continue mindlessly staring at the large tree across the little ground.

"No, I haven't been following you, I imagine Ino-chan would not be very happy if I followed a girl around while not on a mission. I had to run some errands when you came here looking rather ill." he replied, approaching her. "It was obvious that you were upset this afternoon so I thought I should talk to you. I read in a book that a friend should comfort a friend when they are not feeling happy. I have seen you doing the same with your friends on multiple occasions and thought it fitting that I should attempt to make you feel better."

She gave him a small smile and stood up. "That's really sweet of you Sai and I'm sure Ino-pig wouldn't be mad at you if you were in fact following me, she knows we're friends and that you're just worried about me. And I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind lately. What with the clinic taking off so well and Lady Tsunade slowly easing me into more responsibility to eventually take over as head of the hospital, I haven't been able to relax in the longest time. Now walk me home. I'll make you some tea."

Nodding, the ex-root member followed her. After a moment he said, "Ninja should be better at lying, hag. Is this due to your feelings for kakashi-senpai? I have noticed that you are very tense in each other's presence and that your eyes linger on him when he turns his back. Also, you told me about it after two bottles of sake last month."

Sighing and wondering for the nth time why she felt comfortable about confiding in Sai, Sakura replied, "You haven't told anybody about that, have you? And no, it's not about him. At least not completely. I went to visit my mother today." On seeing the confused look on Sai's face she continued, "After training this afternoon, I..felt very uncomfortable there and, well, my mother's house is in the civilian district and I knew none of you would go there so I decided to pay her a visit. My grandparents were there as well and we don't really get along all that well, as you probably remember from when you met them. And I don't know, I miss my father and I miss..aargh! I just need time to pull myself together and get over everything. That's all. I'll be fine."

"I am doing my best to not point out that you are drunk, so I would like to ask you something. I hope it does not offend you, but I'm attempting to understand. What is it like, being in love with someone you feel can never love you back?" Sai asked her.

Looking up at the sky, she replied - "Have you ever heard that quote, 'Falling in love with him wasn't falling at all, it was like walking into a house and suddenly knowing you're home'? It's from that book you read when you were trying to find ideas to court Pig"

He nodded and she continued with a wistful smile, "Well, when you love someone who doesn't love you back, it's like..being homesick for that house, knowing full well that it doesn't exist."

"I'm not sure I understand completely, but that sounds painful."

"It is. I just..I feel so stupid. Falling for him was a mistake. A big one. For a while, he was the best friend I've ever had, no offense to Ino, but he just got me. It took so much effort to get close to him after the war, I simply didn't want him to be alone anymore. And I realised that as infuriating as he is, I would never trade him for the world.

And then I just had to go and fall for him. Even more importantly, I shouldn't have told him. Maybe if he were someone else, we could've moved past it soon. But it's..Kakashi, you know. His avoiding me probably hurts more than the rejection. Unrequited love I can deal with, I've had years of experience in that area. Hell, I'll probably even get over him in time. I just miss him you know."

"Perhaps you should try to talk him? I take it you have not tried a direct approach till now. Maybe you should pretend the incident did not take place and talk to him normally."

"You know what, I think I'll do just that Sai. The elephant in the room be damned. I'll pummel that beast into the ground myself if I have to. Huh, who'd have thought belly-boy gives good advice."

Sai just looked at her in what she assumed was an amused expression. One could never be sure. It was Sai, afterall.

She pulled him into a much-too-tight hug and said, "Oh, and suffice it to say, you breathe a word of all this to anyone, anyone at all, even Ino. Especially Ino, and I'll happen to "accidentally" misplace your medical records and send you for your overall physicals early this year."

He awkwardly patted her on the back, pulled away, gave her a smile and bade her goodnight, before continuing down the street, sketchpad in hand.

He didn't understand why, but he decided to not point out to her that their conversation had not been entirely private.

* * *

Sakura stared after Sai's figure disappearing from sight with a smile. Who knew the ex-ROOT operative could be such a good listener and actually give valid advice. Not that she'd ever ask him for it. Maybe it was the fact that he always looked to her for encouragement and general hand-holding through normal social interactions.

The booze probably helped too.

And he didn't blab, so it was almost comforting to talk him sometimes, if you could ignore his occasional insensitive comments which were growing farther and farther apart with time. She supposed her patient (and sometimes less than patient, sic., violent) explanations and whatever it was that Ino did was helping him slowly build a personality of his own. Though his new found realisation that reading the situation rather than a book regarding it was more helpful and less likely to get his lip busted open was probably helpful too.

His smile didn't seem that fake anymore.

She walked up to her door and paused. Instead of entering her apartment, she sat on the top step and thought about what Sai had said. What was she doing? Pining away for someone who had shown absolutely no interest in her romantically and obviously still thought of her as a silly little girl. As someone annoying.

At that, Sakura clenched her fists. _Why do I keep falling for people who I don't have a snowball's chance in hell with?_

She didn't even want to enter her own apartment, knowing that he was inside. She'd sensed him as soon as she'd reached the door. While a part of her was kind of surprised that he'd actually listened to her and come back here, the rest of her was dreading seeing him again. She recalled his penetrating gaze from earlier. It was like he could see exactly what was going on in her mind.

 _Dammit it all to hell. By Kami, if I don't talk to that idiot today, I'll never manage to._

 _Oh well, here goes_. With a new found resolve, she got up and dusted her skirt before finally going inside.

* * *

Kakashi wasn't proud of the fact that he'd followed Sakura back from her mother's apartment.

He'd felt an odd tug in his chest seeing her sit so forlornly on the old swing in front of the academy, the one that had been there since before his academy days. He'd been on the verge of going over to her for a talk long overdue, but Sai had beaten him to it.

He was about turn back, but he had to go back to Sakura's anyway, so he decided to walk with them. Without them knowing about it of course..but those were minor details.

And of course, curiosity had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.

But after listening to Sai and the slightly drunk Sakura talk about him, he couldn't not listen in. _So she'd told Sai about it then_. He didn't know how to feel about that, though he was grateful that she hadn't told anyone else about it. He had a nagging suspicion that Yamato had guessed something, judging from the calculating look he'd fixed him with after Sakura's hasty retreat from the training grounds earlier, but considering how even the usually obtuse Naruto had felt like something was off, he didn't put much stock in it.

Seeing Sai walk off, he easily entered her apartment through the balcony. _Hmm, I should talk to her about protective seals._

He knew he had fucked up pretty badly by falling for her, and even worse by avoiding her, so after he heard her say that she was going to make an effort to make things right again, he decided to not be difficult about it.

After all, he'd missed her too. He just hoped that salvaging their relationship was still possible.

So when she finally walked, sic. stumbled her way into the apartment, she found a slouching silver haired jounin sitting on her couch, reading his old neon coloured book.

"Kakashi, I didn't expect you to actually listen to me and stay. I must say, I'm very impressed."

If not for the slight stumble in her step and his sensitive nose, it would've been very difficult to tell that she was drunk.

"Mah mah, Sakura-chan. Is that any way to talk to your captain? And back to Kakashi now, are we?" he replied.

Her eyes widened slightly before her lips broke out in a grin, he noted with an answering smile he couldn't have held back if he'd tried to.

"Bah, I was mad at you. It seems like you never come back from a mission without being seriously injured. Maybe you are getting to be an old man after all."

"So mean, Sakura-chan." He replied with a pout. "And I'm not old, I'm only 34. I'm in my prime. And anyway, I've heard somewhere that Shinobi age like fine wine."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, jiji." She quipped and got an indignant huff in reply. "Now now, stop pouting like a child and let me get a look at that wound on your side. It's a pretty nasty one, and I was low on chakra last night so I could only partially heal it. Go on then. Off with the shirt."

"So eager to get me out of my clothes, Sakura-chan?" he teased with a grin.

"You wish, you old pervert. Now quit stalling."

Sighing, he replied with an "Aa." before pulling his shirt off with a little difficulty.

He watched her face intently while she deftly removed the bandages from his wound and healed him with an aura of professionalism which he knew he had nothing to do with, but of which couldn't help but be proud of. After all, it had saved countless lives and not only in the war, but ever since she'd qualified as a medic-nin.

When she was finished, she looked up and caught his eye and instead of looking away, held his gaze with a soft smile and quietly said, "Welcome back, Kakashi."

Answering with a smile of his own, he couldn't help but feel like it wasn't too late for them after all.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **1\. Hey readers, how you doin'? Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Was swamped af, what with my finals and all.**

 **2\. Yay! My finals are done! I am officially done with high school! So now, I have a few months worth of peace and the illusion of freedom! At the very least, I can continue on my merry way and do the things I did with guilt during my finals month without the guilt.**

 **3\. 3. You may have noticed that I spell "favourite" and "colour" with a "U" and "realise" with an "S" instead of a "Z". Why, you ask? Because I'm an Indian and being a former British colony (from less than a hundred years ago, Americans), we follow the British system. And no, I will not be changing the spellings. It is a matter of honour. Yup, honoUr.**

 **4\. Please feel free to point out any grammatical errors you find in my updates, I reply to every review and PMs.**

 **5.I'll try to be more regular with the updates from now on, as I have absolutely nothing to do with my life except fill out college applications and read fanfics.**

 **Love you all! See you next time!**


	4. In Which We Meet the Student

**Thank you for your lovely reviews! I try to reply to all the reviews, but since that's not always possible, I would like to thank all the guest readers. I hope you continue reading.**

 **And to the anonymous reviewers who think it's appropriate to tell me to "kill myself because I'm a delusional. virginal fucktard," even though I'm really very flattered that you take the time to review every single chapter of both the stories I've posted till date without fail, I would like to request you to grow the fuck up. It's very clearly mentioned that this is a KakaSaku fanfiction, if you don't like the, as you called it - "fucking self-insert crack fanfic,"- you are most welcome to ignore this particular story.**

 **Enjoy! See you at the bottom.**

 _Why? Why me? Is one good night's sleep too much to ask for?_

The clock on her nightstand told her that it was 6 AM. She sighed when the incessant knocking continued and made her way to the front door, putting on a robe.

"WHAT?" she growled, almost pulling the door off its hinges, to reveal a very unimpressed 16 year old boy standing in front of her, holding a brown paper bag in hand.

"Honestly sensei, some shinobi you are. I can't believe you're still asleep." The bespectacled boy replied in a very bored voice, making his way past her and heading straight towards the kitchen.

"Sure, come right in. It's not like I was sleeping or anything."

"It's 6 AM, sensei. Training day today. Or did you forget? I should start hiding your sake again."

"Woah woah, hold on a second there. Just because they call me mini-Tsunade, doesn't mean you're under any obligation to become a mini-Shizune. And besides, I didn't really get drunk last night, just had a long day" She replied, closing the door and moving into the kitchen. "Also, I don't have a problem."

"Oh I'm well aware of that sensei. But seriously, a civilian bar of all places? That too to THAT shady place? Couldn't you just have gone to Daisuke-san's? At least that way, the only one you'd be worrying is your liver." He retorted.

"Don't act like I don't know about your little 'understanding' with Dai. He always cuts me off after a while even when you're not there to chatter in my ear about the ill-effects of alcohol." She inched closer and put her hand inside the paper bag he'd brought with him. _Mmm, food._ "Besides, I'm a kunoichi. I can take care of myself, I don't need a chaperone."

"You obviously do." he said, slapping her hand away. "Need I remind you of what happened when that idiot Takahashi-whatshisface hit on you when you were drunk and I left you alone for all of five minutes?"

Slumping, Sakura said replied with a kicked-puppy expression reminiscent of her own ex-sensei. "Remember when you used to hang on to my every word with a look of awe? I actually liked you back then."

As her student let her know exactly whom she was behaving like with his eyebrow raised at her, she immediately straightened and snapped, "I wouldn't _have_ to visit civilian establishments if you didn't feel the need to flirt with the bar-tender at my usual bar. I swear Udon, one of these days, Daisuke is going to kick you out, what with you always batting your eyelashes at him. He's older than me, you know, and you're under-age."

Smirking slightly when the tips of his ears reddened, she was just about to tell him about a Chunin from the hospital who'd seemed interested in her student, she was cut-off by a deep chuckle from the couch. Realising she'd forgotten about the silver-haired man she'd all but ordered to sleep off his injuries on the couch the previous night, she flinched when her student turned towards the source of the sound and stiffened. _Maybe telling him about Kakashi wasn't the best idea I've had this year._

"Kakashi-san. I didn't know you'd be here. Apologies for the intrusion."

Raising an eyebrow at his stiff tone, he gave his usual eye-crease. "Good morning, Udon. I'm just under house-arrest here. I'll be reading my book, so don't mind me." He said in his usual cheery tone and walked into the kitchen.

Suppressing an amused giggle at Udon's expression, she swatted Kakashi's hand away from the bag the same way her student had.

"Sensei, about my training," Udon started, in an unusually nervous tone. "How long did you wait to start training in chakra-enhanced strength after going under Tsunade-sama's tutelage?"

"Ah, that would explain why you're so eager for training today, even for you. You know, even Shizune-senpai couldn't pull that jutsu off, accomplished as she is at medical ninjutsu. So don't you think for a second that this is going to be easy. But, seeing as your chakra control is getting there, you might actually be able to pull it off. Don't get complacent though, it was relatively easy for me since I've been adept at chakra-control right since my academy days. And by relatively easy I mean I didn't shatter the bones in my hand the second time I tried. It was no walk in the park despite my near-perfect chakra control and academic know-how being few of the only things I was good at back then. I do want to teach you however, or at least try to. But it's not my technique and therefore not my place to teach it to you."

Seeing his face fall, she continued, "Tell you what. How about I give you a little test. A very simple one, just to see if you'll be able to actually do it. If you pass, then and only then will I go to Shishou and ask her if she'll teach it to you. How does that sound?"

Udon opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, looking down.

"What is it?"

"Well, sensei, I was hoping that you'd be the one to teach it to me"

Her lips quirked up in a small smile at that and a warmth filled her features, the kind her student hadn't seen in a while. Laying a hand on his head, Sakura replied, "Well, if that's my favourite student's wish, who am I to deny him that. I'll talk to Shishou about it. Once you pass the test of course."

Taking a step back, he bowed low. "Then I'll do my best sensei."

Looking up to see her smiling down at him, he gave her a small smile before abruptly straightening up and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Your house is such a mess, sensei. I don't know how you live here. Have your breakfast while I tidy up a little. Then get dressed. We're leaving in forty minutes."

"Am I the sensei here or are you?"

"You are. Now eat and get dressed."

"Hai hai, I'm going, I'm going," she replied, shooting a glare at Kakashi, who was snickering behind his book.

"Okay, now here's what I want you to do, see my palm? I want you to focus as much chakra in your fist as you can and release it all at once when it makes contact with my hand."

Standing in one of the most secluded training grounds Konoha had to offer, Sakura realised that the picture she and Udon made right then, facing each other, was one very similar to her initial training with Tsunade.

Except she wasn't going to start chucking large boulders at him. At least, not yet.

"B-but sensei! That's dangerous! You could get hurt!"

Smirking, she replied, "Udon, you're doing this for the first time, you're more likely to hurt yourself than me." Seeing him blanch slightly at that, she chuckled before continuing, "Relax. We're both medics here. Also, I'm not going to make my hand as hard a barrier as Shishou did, so unless you do something incredibly stupid, you won't be shattering your hand like I did. Besides, even if you do, it's an excellent opportunity to attempt using the chakra bone-knitting technique. That was one of the first techniques me and Shizune-senpai worked on together. Ah, good times."

Seeing the apprehensive expression remain on his face, she felt herself grow a little annoyed.

"Alright, look. You're the one who wanted to learn this technique. I'm fine with continuing your education just as a medic-nin. If I was half a hard-assed task-master during training as Shishou was, I would've thrown a rock at you and expected you to break it. That's what she did on my second try, by the way. I only managed to execute the jutsu correctly because I would've been crushed by the rock if I hadn't. The sannin weren't exactly easy on their students. Jiraya-sama taught Naruto how to summon Gamabunta by pushing him into a deep crevice and expecting him to use Gamabunta as a way to you know, not break his back. And whole body. And die. So either you do this my way, or we go back to lab. You're yet to concoct a poison remotely good enough to interest me."

Taking a deep breath, Udon closed his eyes briefly before looking up at Sakura with a determined expression on his face. "Okay, I'm ready."

One side of her mouth curving up in a smirk, she raised her hand so her palm was facing him. "Attaboy! There's the brat who pestered me night and day till I accepted him as my student! Now, remember what we discussed. Don't release the chakra before your fist makes impact with my palm. And when it does, release it all at once without hesitation, otherwise the chakra cushion _will_ dissipate, and the break will be painful."

"Hai sensei." he replied, gathering chakra in his hand, making it glow green.

"One, two, three-"

" _Oh fuck!"_

"You know, for your first try, that wasn't half bad."

Looking incredulously at her calm, almost bored expression, he exclaimed, "I fractured my hand!"

"Well," Sakura replied, wrapping the bandage around his hand, "it's not as bad as it would've been if you hadn't been paying attention to what I'd said earlier. You'll just have to keep it in a splint for a while. I know you still go through the exercise I taught you, circulating chakra around your system multiple times after waking up. It's good for improving control , but as an added bonus it'll help your hand heal quickly."

"But why can't I do it right now? Or better yet, why can't you do it right now?"

"It's part of the training ritual, actually. Especially now that we know you can pull it off. Shishou's logic was that it teaches you not to attempt it without supervision in the beginning, lest you seriously injured yourself with the cockiness of learning a new jutsu. She didn't let me heal it when I broke it that first time either, just set it properly so that it would heal correctly. Don't look at me like that. I too thought she was crazy, at first and it hurt like hell too. But I realised it was smart later. You should be glad I'm so easy on you."

"Uh..okay. Easy"

"Damn right. Compared to my methods, the woman's a maniac." She recalled with a fond smile. "I remember, the first few months of training with Shishou. I almost always felt like my head was going to fall off my neck at any given time, seeing as I had no energy to hold it up without considerable effort. Don't worry, we'll get there. This training isn't exactly a cakewalk. Your taijutsu training will have to be tripled. And I fully expect you to start attempting the seal after a year. But that's something you'll have to do on your own, like I did. If you pull that off, you'll be the first male to have pulled it off..ah I'm getting ahead of myself. Baby steps and all."

"First male huh, wait, did you say you're going to triple my taijutsu training?!"

"Yup, I started my training at 13, remember? You have a lot to catch up to. You have to become adept at evasion first. Remember, a medic-nin is no good if-"

"They get themselves killed." he finished her sentence. "It's one of the rules. I did read the rules, sensei."

"Good." she said and patted his head. "Shishou and I also specialise in close-quarter combat. Armed or otherwise. It basically goes hand in hand with the strong fist technique. Provided you don't bring the building or cave you're in down on you. I learned to truly control the extent of the damage after the war. Improving upon techniques is not something you can be taught. Remember that."

"Hai sensei." He paused for a beat, "can I ask you something?"

Frowning as she noticed his hesitation, she looked up to see her student looking down at his hand with an odd expression. "What is it, Udon? You've never been one to ask permission before asking me stuff. Is something wrong?"

"No. It's just that, why was Kakashi-san at your apartment?" Frowning, he continued, "Considering..things, are you sure it's wise?"

 _Oh boy_ Sighing, she replied, "I really wish people would stop asking me about Kakashi. Really Udon, all that was just me being silly. It's fine now. Besides, we've been really good friends, him and I, for a while now. I don't think I should jeopardise that by being stupid. More than I already have, that is."

Standing up, she held out a hand to help him up, which he took. "Anything else bothering you, my four-eyed friend?"

Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he didn't seem satisfied with the answer, even so, he replied, "Yes, actually. I was just wondering..most sensei teach their students in the same training field they were trained in with their genin teams. So how come you teach me here..I mean, this is so far away from the others."

Sakura couldn't help smiling at that. "Well, maybe that's because you're not part of a team of genin given to me and I'm not your jonin sensei. The field I trained in, Training Ground 3, was the one the Sannin were trained in by the Third Hokage, the team where I'm pretty sure Jiraya-sama taught the Fourth and the Fourth Kakashi's genin team. But it is not where Jiraya-sama taught Naruto or where Tsunade-shishou taught me, for the same reason why I'm not taking you there. This is the training field Shishou trained me in. That tree," she said, pointing at a young willow, "is the only one I managed to save from Tsunade during training. And that pool," she pointed at a small pond a little ways beside the tree, "is the one I created when I first managed to create a small crater in the ground, breaking a rock formation in the ground. Your training with me is a little similar to mine with Tsunade-sama's. From someone who's not your Jonin sensei. In medical ninjutsu, and now this. We both had something to prove. We both needed to find a place to belong. I guess we've both succeeded in that, eh? Now why don't you run along and get something to eat. I'll see you at the lab after I finish up some paper work that's probably piled up at the office and talk to shishou about your training. I want to see some results today, got it?."

She waited long enough to see him bow once, nod and take off before turning towards the line of trees at the edge of the clearing.

"You can come out now, Kakashi. You didn't have to hide in the first place, you know. What I'm teaching him isn't exactly classified information. Not that _that_ would've stopped you, oh great Copy Ninja."

Moving towards the little pond, she sat down on the grass and smiled in his direction before leaning backwards on her elbows.

"Oh I know, but your little student might not have particularly cared for it. Did I accidentally run over the brat's glasses the last time we met or something?" He asked, sitting down beside her and whipping out his trusty book.

"Nah, that's kind of my fault I guess. I talk when I'm drunk, which I'm sure you remember. And he's pretty much always around when I'm drunk."

"He does seem to worry about you a lot. Can't say he's wrong though. You may be able to handle your liquor well, but..there are some exceptional cases."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. He does worry unnecessarily though." She replied, closing her eyes.

They sat there for a while, sharing a silence that was as comfortable as their usual banter, each lost in their thoughts. After a few minutes, Sakura got up and dusted the back of her shorts. Stretching, she looked up at the sky and noted that it was around noon.

"Hmm, I forgot. We're meeting up at the bar tonight at around 9. Tenzo will be there, Genma too, I think. I wasn't really listening. Interested?"

"Ah, I'd love to, but I can't. I promised Ino I'd go drinking with her tonight. She's been kind of miffed with me lately, we haven't really hung out much in months. Anyhoo, I'd ask you to lunch, but I agreed to let her take me dress shopping. She was horrified when I told her I haven't bought any new clothes in a while. So I guess I'll see you later?"

A vague "Hmm" and a slight nod of acknowledgment were the only things that let her know that he'd actually heard her. Feeling a fond smile tug at her lips, she gave into it, leaving in a flurry of leaves and smoke.

Now that she was gone, Kakashi finally lifted his head to gaze at the spot she'd stood in. The leaves were the only indication that she'd been there. It was nice, being able to talk to her again. It was like being back home.

Shaking his head once, he settled back into the grass. _Hm, one of these days I'll have to thank her for bringing me here._

With that, he resumed reading what he knew was Sakura's favourite book of the series with a slight contented smile playing on his lips.

 **A/N:**

 **1\. Heeey people! How is you all doing! Sorry for the late update, I just..got lost on the road of life.**

 **2\. Seriously though, I almost died in the last week of April because my kidneys apparently hate me and decided to pack up and go out of business because they got offended that I let myself get dehydrated. And as it turns out, hospitals are not very conducive for creative endeavours.**

 **3\. Also, guess who's going to college! A triple major. Should be fun.**

 **4\. This was my longest chapter yet. I like this word count, I'll probably keep it around.**

 **5\. I have posted a new story, yes I posted a new story before I finished this one, it's more of a collection of connected one-shots actually, called "Of Scarecrows and Cherryblossoms. Do check it out. Also, prompts people, prompts!**

 **6\. Reviews are like chocolates. And I luuuuurv chocolates, so please review!**

 **See you all next time!**


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